Tech Talk: Mobile Shopping

On this week's podcast: Claire Cain Miller on mobile shopping challenges, a new version of the Linux Ubuntu OS and eco-friendly earbuds.

THE NEW YORK TIMES

Mobile shopping hasn't taken off in a big way, and retailers are still looking for ways to get consumers to shop from their phones or tablets. On this week's Bits: Tech Talk show, Bettina Edelstein talks to Claire Cain Miller, a Times technology reporter, about the challenges retailers face in getting smartphone users to buy on the fly. Though consumers do want to use their mobile devices for shopping, Ms. Miller said, they don't like entering their information on a tiny screen. Successful mobile shopping apps, she said, streamline the process.

Also in this week's podcast:

A new version of the Linux Ubuntu operating system - version 11.04 - is being released this week, and it is called Natty Narwal. J.D. Biersdorfer speaks with Mark Shuttleworth, the founder of the Ubuntu Project, about what's different this time. Ubuntu, which first debuted in 2004, names each new version after an animal. The first edition was called Warty Warthog.

Pedro Rafael Rosado checks out the eco-friendly Thinksound TS02 earbuds. Made with a wooden housing and an aluminum baffle, the earbuds have a list price of $80.

The news roundup includes a Senate hearing on mobile privacy; two tablets on the way from Sony; the Barnes & Noble Nook getting tablet features; Nintendo's plans to update the Wii; and a hack attack on the Sony PlayStation network. Ms. Biersdorfer's tech tip is about how to make margin notes in the iBook app for iOS devices.

To find more information about the show and links to topics that were discussed, go to the Tech Talk page.

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